July 8th Summer Jam-Off Event

Preserving fruits and vegetables is the surest way to be able to eat locally and sustainably throughout the year. At the "Hull-House Kitchen Preservation Fundraiser" on July 8 during Re-thinking Soup, chefs and food preservationists will donate jars of their preserved fruits and jams. Attendees at the day's soup conversation will be the judge of whose preserves are the tastiest. Jars will be auctioned off to raise funds for future meetings of the Re-thinking Soup series.

**July 8th will be the last Re-thinking Soup before the summer hiatus. Hull-House Kitchen will briefly close its doors to evaluate the program and test out new recipes. Please join us when we reopen our doors and serve more healthy soup on Tuesday AUGUST 19 at noon. Please give us your feedback and comments about your experiences at Rethinking Soup so that we can plan, scheme, and devise new ways of opening the table and the conversation to new ideas and new people.**

Hull-House Kitchen: Rethinking Soup

Please bring your hunger for free soup and conversation every tuesday. Hull-House Kitchen: Rethinking Soup is a communal event where we will eat delicious, healthy, soup and have fresh, organic conversation about many of the urgent social, cultural, economic and environmental food issues that we should be addressing. We will meet in the historic Residents' Dining Hall, where Upton Sinclair, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B.Duboise, Gertrude Stein and other important social reformers met to share meals and ideas, debate one another and conspire to change the world.

Activists, farmers, doctors, economists, artists, and guest chefs will join us each week to present their ideas and projects. In the tradition of the Hull-House Settlement's commitment to free speech and Chicago's Bug House Square, the third tuesday of every month will feature a "Soup Soap Box." Anyone and everyone is invited to take the stage for 2 minutes each to share their projects, opinions, and visions for the future of food.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Soup Soap Box Continued

Everyone was invited to take the stage for 2 minutes each to share their projects, opinions, and visions for the future of food.In case you couldn't attend or have more to contribute...We would like to continue the discussions with our blog.

We can still serve as an official Listening Session for the Governor's Task Force, appointed as a result of the Illinois Food, Farms, and Jobs Act. All Recomendations from the Task Force will be considered by the Illinois General Assembly in 2009. Please post your thoughts...

I felt my brain cramped a bit, and I barely said what I wanted to say. As a very practicing locavore, here's what I need:

A central, year-round, daily market, somewhere triangulated between Milwaukee's recent Public Market, the Ferry-Terminal Market in San Francisco and Cleveland's Westside Market.

Markets open in the afternoon and evening

More winter markets

Farmers growing for winter markets. In other words, producing surplus quantities of potatoes, root vegetables, apples, pears, onions and the lot then storing them at optimum conditions. These crops will be released over the course of the Winter.

Farmers growing in the winter using hoop-houses and other technology--lettuces, greens, herbs, maybe even berries.Fruits and vegetables grown for ethnic markets.

Local food served in schools.

Mills grinding local grains into the full range of desired grains including white flour.

A viable commercial fishing industry, including river fish and Lake Michigan fish.

Pecans grown at one tip of the state and hazelnuts grown at the other; in between a revitalization of the native black walnut crop.

Artisanal consumer (that's consumer) products derived from local corn and soy including tofu and cooking oils.

1. Saute onions, shallots, garlic and honey.2. Add Potatoes and deglaze with sherry.3. Add Cauliflower,bay leaf, black pepper and just enough water to cover. Cook until tender.4. Puree and strain through chinoise5. Season and serve!

Sweet Pea and Mint Soup

1. Saute onions, garlic,bay leaf and thyme until tender2. Puree then add honey and black pepper then chill3. Blanch Peas until tender(2-3 minutes) in boiling water and shock in an ice bath4. Remove the peas from the ice bath and puree them with just enough water to puree smooth.5. Strain through china cap and mix with the onion base.6. Adjust consitancy with cold water.7. Add bacon lardons for extra deliciousness! Along with mint leaves

1. In a food processor mix until finely chopped onion, celery, carrot, ginger, garlic, and shitake mushrooms. Do Not Puree!2. Saute mixture over medium heat with vegetable oil until liquid has cooked out and mixture is tender. About 20 minutes.3. Add water and bring to a light simmer, Do not boil.4. Add miso paste to a seperate bowl5. Then ladle 2 cups of hot broth liquid into miso paste, whisk until dissolved.6. Add miso mixture back into soup broth.Never bring to a boil!7. Add veggies and sambal, cook until veggies reach desired tenderness.8. Add cilantro, serve and enjoy!

1. Sear meat on high heat and then remove the meatfrom pan when barely cooked.2. In the same pan, lower the heat and add the onions,garlic and green garlic. Saute until light brown scraping the bottomof the pan every time you stir.3. Incorporate the tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes.4. Add red wine and reduce by 3/4 amount.5. Add the stock, meat, sachet and barley and lightlysimmer until barley and meat are tender.6. Season with Salt and Pepper and serve!

Recipe: Lentil with Baby Collard Greens and Spring Scallions

Baby Collards from Green Acres Farm in IndianaScallions from Nichols Farm in Illinois.

1. Saute onions, garlic, and green garlic until tender.2. Add Madeira and stir.3. Then add chicken stock, cooked chicken pieces, the sachet, and white beans and bring to a simmer. Cook until flavors combine, add salt if needed.4. To serve the soup, in a bowl add grilled asparagus and sliced spinach then ladle with a serving of soup.5. Serve and Enjoy!

1. First sweat the leeks, onions and garlic over medium heat until translucent (approx 10 minutes).2. Add carrots and sherry, reducing sherry by half.3. Then add sachet and water then cook on medium heat. Simmer until carrots are tender or fall off a fork (approx 20 min).4. Remove the sachet.5. Blend the contents in a blender, then pour through a mesh strainer.6. Check for final Seasoning and adjust if needed.6. Serve and Enjoy